A system for timing ignition signals which uses an electronic storage as well as a data carrier which rotates at engine speed and is sensed by a stationary sensor is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,063,539, Gorille et al., of which the inventors hereof are co-inventors, assigned to the assignee of the present application. In this system, the address of a particular storage location is derived in dependence on the then-present operating conditions. The contents of the storage are applied to a counter. Further scanning of the data carrier causes counting pulses, namely pulses each signifying the same incremental angle of rotation, to be applied to the counter until the counter reaches a predetermined count, at which time the ignition signal is furnished. The ignition time is thus automatically advanced at increasing engine speeds. Other parameters are taken into consideration by changing either the end count on the counter or causing the address of the storage location to be changed as a function of engine load, operating temperature, etc.